City assessor summarizes 2025 preliminary assessment roll and open-book results

City Assessor Michelle Laube provided the Board of Review with the assessor’s preliminary 2025 Annual Assessment Report and a summary of the open-book process and data underlying the assessment roll.

Laube said the 2025 assessment roll is a maintenance assessment: not all values changed; changes were made for properties affected by new construction, sales, permits or owner-requests during calendar year 2024. Notices of assessment change were mailed April 22, 2025. Open-book appointments ran May 7–13; 37 real-estate appointments were reviewed, leading to 24 amended notices and 12 no-change determinations.

The assessor reported 3,538 field inspections during the 2025 assessment process (1,375 sales verified and 1,372 permits reviewed). Laube said residential properties make up roughly 92% of parcels and hold 72% of total value; commercial properties account for about 6% of parcels and 26% of total value.

Laube summarized the Department of Revenue assessment-sale ratio findings (as included in the packet): aggregate assessment ratios of 87.75% for residential class, 93.38% for commercial class, and an overall aggregate ratio of 88.22%. She said the assessor's office calibrated sale comparables with a 0.75% monthly adjustment applied in the same manner used since the 2023 revaluation.

Laube said the assessor delivered the signed assessor’s affidavit and the completed 2024 assessment roll to the clerk on May 28, 2025; the final assessment roll is posted on the assessor webpage and the public notices and affidavits of publication (Janesville Gazette) are included in the board packet. She invited questions; none were raised during the presentation.

Ending: The board accepted the assessor’s report into the record and proceeded with agenda items related to waivers and hearings.